Core i5-6600 vs Ryzen 3 1300X

Gaming speed, cores and clocks

The Core i5-6600 and the Ryzen 3 1300X are within a few percent of each other for gaming. In a game, you will not see the difference.

The Core i5-6600 has 4 cores and 4 threads, and the Ryzen 3 1300X has 4 cores and 4 threads. Core counts are the same, so cache size and clock speed decide the difference. Boost clocks are 3.9 GHz and 3.7 GHz.

Platform, power and price

The Core i5-6600 uses the LGA1151 socket and the Ryzen 3 1300X uses AM4, so they need different motherboards, and often different memory. When you compare prices, count the board as well as the chip.

Rated power is 65 W for the first and 65 W for the second. That is close enough that cooling needs will be similar.

At launch the Core i5-6600 cost $213 and the Ryzen 3 1300X $129, which gives 10.8 and 17.8 points of gaming performance per $100. Today's prices will differ.

Which graphics cards each one can feed, and which to buy

At 1080p the Core i5-6600 can feed a card up to the Arc A580 before it holds the card back by more than 10 percent. The Ryzen 3 1300X reaches the Arc A580. Both chips are in the same range for graphics card pairing.

Choose the Core i5-6600 if you want the faster gaming chip and the same or more cores. Choose the Ryzen 3 1300X if you would rather spend the difference on a graphics card, which does more for frame rates in most games.